Definition: Cognitivism

In the 1980s, several theories of learning that concentrated on studying learning as an internal function of the brain and as a social process…as opposed to overt actions and stimulas-response began to gain popularity and momentum. These theories and the study of how computers processed information all converged and led to the creation of a learning philosophy known as Cognitivism. The theories are are:

• Albert Bandura’s social-cognitive theory
• Bernard Weiner’s attribution theory
• Lev Vygotsky’s sociohistorical theory

Cognitivism was created to document and analyze how humans process information. The idea is that the learner is a complex information-processing system and to understand how learning occurs, one must understand how information processing occurs within the human brain. The idea is that learning is more than the result of externally observed behaviors…much more occurs than simply observable behavior.

In the cognivitist’s view learning occurs internally and through the social interactions with others. It is the social interactions that really trigger and assist the learning process as the learner makes internal connections between and among what has been observed and his or her experiences.

Currently research in the area of Cognitivism is in the areas of metacognition (thinking about thinking), novice vs. expert knowledge and problem-solving.
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